In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
We call the departure of the Mother of God to the Lord, Her death and passing from this life, the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Why do we call the death of the Mother of God the dormition, which translates as “falling asleep”? Because Her death was so peaceful and calm, so serene, that it can be compared rather to someone falling asleep than to the ending of earthly life. People often die very difficult deaths—in suffering and severe agony—but it is as if the Queen of Heaven simply fell asleep.
Her whole life was an example for all of us Christians; and Her Dormition is also an example for us, so that our passing into eternal life might be peaceful and calm, as if falling asleep. What is needed for this?
What did the Most Holy Theotokos do? How did She live, that Her death became a dormition? When the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin to announce that She would give birth to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, She said the words to which She remained faithful all Her life. She replied, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word (Lk. 1:38).
The main feature of the life of the Most Holy Theotokos—the very trait that gave Her the ability to pass so calmly and peacefully from this life to eternal life—was submission to the will of God and acceptance of His will. With humility and submission, the Theotokos accepted the will of God when it was announced to Her that God would be born of Her. With the same submission to God’s will, yet with pain in Her heart, She accepted the sight of Her Son crucified on the Cross. Her entire life was the acceptance of God’s will. Accordingly, Her death became the acceptance of God’s will; because throughout Her life She had become convinced that the Lord would send nothing evil, which is why She departed to the Lord so peacefully and quietly. In this She is an example for all of us: an example of the peaceful and calm acceptance of God’s will. This is the path that the Most Holy Theotokos walked; and this is the path that all the saints walked too.
We often find in the Lives of saints—both early martyrs and the new martyrs of the twentieth century, and indeed many other saints—examples of this wondrous, peaceful and calm state of mind even amidst the most severe sufferings and what would seem to be insurmountable temptations.
For example, let us open the writings of St. Silouan the Athonite and see what inner spirit they breathe, what peace emanates from these lines: “People argue, and there is no end to these arguments; but we just need to pray, and the Lord will enlighten everyone.” Archimandrite John (Krestiankin), beloved by us all, was filled with the same inner spirit and peace. Once, the abbot of the Pskov-Caves Monastery very harshly and categorically forbade him from receiving people and carrying out his ministry as an elder. All the visitors were horrified, telling each other what terrible things had happened at the monastery, while only Fr. John himself was absolutely calm and said in response: “Never mind. Everything is fine. I am doing my job, and Father Abbot is doing his.” And a few days later the ban was lifted, and everything returned to normal.
Even in our own lives, we can see that things which make us worry, annoyed, angry, and from which we lose peace of mind, usually seem like mere trifles by the next day—not worth a second thought, and certainly not worth losing that inner peace where God dwells.
May God grant us to learn this humble acceptance of God’s will from the Mother of God, Who is the Mother of all of us. It was precisely this trait that gave Her the ability to pass so peacefully into eternal life—an event which we celebrate today. May God grant that we, too, keep peace of mind and accept the will of God in our lives, and then our lives will be—if only to some extent—similar to that of the Most Holy Theotokos. And our passing into eternity will be just as peaceful a dormition—a departure from this tearful earthly life into the Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.
